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Assistant Secretary for Policy Development: Arif Alikhan
Arif Alikhan is the Assistant Secretary for Policy Development for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C. Assistant Secretary Alikhan leads a team of policy analysts, scientists, and economists responsible for coordinating, analyzing, and developing policy issues for securing the United States against terrorists and natural threats. The Department comprises over 200,000 federal employees in various agencies including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Secret Service. Assistant Secretary Alikhan’s team works with these agencies to develop critical policy initiatives on issues ranging from counterterrorism to emergency management to cyber security.
Prior to his appointment as Assistant Secretary, Mr. Alikhan served as Deputy Mayor for Homeland Security and Public Safety for the City of Los Angeles. As Deputy Mayor, he was the chief adviser to Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa on all public safety and homeland security initiatives and had oversight responsibilities for the Los Angeles Police, Fire, and Emergency Management Departments. His team also administered over $400 million in federal and state homeland security grants and was responsible for agencies with nearly $2 billion in budgetary authority for approximately 18,000 sworn and civilian employees.
Assistant Secretary Alikhan is a former federal prosecutor who acted as an Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles where he served as Chief of the first Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section for the Central District of California. He subsequently served approximately two years as a senior adviser to the Attorney General on intellectual property and cyber crime issues in Washington D.C.
Assistant Secretary Alikhan graduated with honors from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles where he was Chief Articles Editor of the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review. He also attended the University of California at Irvine where he received a degree in criminal justice, criminology, and legal studies. He is a frequent lecturer on a variety of public safety and homeland security issues and was an adjunct professor of law at the University of Southern California Law School in Los Angeles.
This page was last modified on August 18, 2009